Longtime editor and general manager Stephanie Woody has been named publisher of the Dawson County News.

The announcement was made by Norman Baggs, general manager of Swartz Morris Media, parent company of the Dawson County News.

“Stephanie has done an exceptional job representing us in the Dawson community and we are convinced the Dawson County News will grow to new levels of success under her continued leadership,” Baggs said.

As publisher, Woody will have oversight of all the content, operational and business functions of the Dawson County News, its various special sections, social media and the dawsonnews.com website.

Woody joined the staff of what was then known as the Dawson Community News in May 2002 as a legal clerk. She was promoted to editor in November 2006 and to general manager in October of 2014. She continued in the role of general manager after the paper’s merger with the Dawson News & Advertiser in September of 2015, at which time the publication became known as the Dawson County News.

"I'm excited about my new role with the Dawson County News," she said. "I look forward to providing our readers with the same level of service and quality they have come to expect."

Woody has worked with a number of organizations around the county, such as the Dawson County Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors and membership committee and the R.E.A.D. board. She was named the chamber’s Ambassador of the Year in 2013 and is a 2014 Leadership Dawson graduate.

She and husband Robbie have three children, Kenadie, Braxton and Asher, and are members of Shady Grove Baptist Church in Cumming.